Rare Earth was formed in the early 60s, initially under the name The Sunliners. In the following years came and went a number of members and in 1968 they recorded their first album. The next year the band signed a contract with Motown under its new name, Rare Earth, and became one of the label's first all-white bands. Rare Earth was to belong to one of Motown subsidiary labels which had not yet a name, and the focus of this subsidiary label was exactly all-white bands. The people of Motown asked the band if they had any suggestions concerning a name for the label and they answered jokingly Rare Earth. To the band's surprise, Motown thought that this was a good idea and the label Rare Earth was born.
The band Rare Earth had a number of hits during the first years but the postitions in the charts over time became lower and lower. Motown then decided to take a stronger artistic control over the band's production and called in the legendary songwriter / producer Norman Whitfield for their sixth album at Motown - Ma. Norman wrote and produced all the songs, a couple of them together with Barrett Strong.
I found this album earlier this year in one of Quebec's shops for used vinyl records. The main thing that made me curious about the group was the fact that I own a record with Sunday Funnies (see a previous post) which was released at the label Rare Earth. Since I like that album I thought the chance was pretty high that another band at that label also would be good, especially the band that gave the label its name! In addition, I liked the cover that almost can be called minimalist. Since I didn't have a record player in Quebec, this album had to wait quite a long time to be played by me, but he who waits for something good ... Right?
Side A consists of the song Ma and clocks in at just over 17 minutes. This is the album's peak, according to me. The song had previously been done by the Temptations and Undisputed Truth. A hypnotic groove takes the listener on a funky soul journey on the theme "mother". The groove is steady and doesn't change during the 17 minutes, but things are always happening in the song which help to keep up the interest. One time I found myself getting strong Hawkwind-vibes from an unusually spacy-psychedelic part in the song. Imagine that! The drummer Peter Hoorelbeke is the main singer of the band and has a classic raspy soul / funk voice with a lot of power.
The B-side is also good and offers more funky soul / rockn'roll. The album ends with the softcore song Come With Me in which a woman's voice is heard moaning in a way that can't be heard otherwise than very sexual. I would say that both Donna Summer (Love To Love You) and Jane Birkin / Serge Gainsbourg (Je t'aime ... moi non plus) are problably beaten here.
The album Ma is considered by many to be the band Rare Earth's best album. The band has continued to exist over the years with (as always) a large number of member changes. They still tour and released an album as recently as 2008.
Favorittrack
Ma
Tracklist
Side A
1. Ma 17:21
Side B
1. Big John Is My Name 4:06
2. Smiling Faces Sometimes 6:20
3. Hum Along And Dance 5:15
4. Come With Me 4:30
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